In a message dated 7/24/2002 12:21:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time, LifeJester writes:
<< k now u got me goin on another topic i need info on... tony woodrup tells me my woodrup was sold to 10 speed imports... what can u tell me about these folks.. they sound like they musta been huge into the bike market in the 80s or earlier
my woodrup came thu them.. and no u tell me they wer big with the alans as well
sorry for all the questions but this is all pretty new to me
shel >>
Tony:
Yes, Ten Speed Drive Imports (I think in Melbourne Beach, Florida?) was a BIG player in the road bike business before mountain bikes and bad business practices put them under.
At one time or other they imported Guerciotti, Ciocc, Cinelli, Woodrup, Rossin, Pogliaghi, and their own Italian made house brand named "Tommaso" (the owner was named Tom Eason, kinda like the Giordana bikes & clothing was named for Gita prez. Georgio Andretta.) Alan frames were labeled as Guerciotti or Tommaso, not as Alans.. They also repped for Masi USA briefly.in Masi USA's early days (drop shipped I think from California) ..
Then they were main distributors of all the Italian goodies from Campagnolo, Cinelli, Nisi, & many other marques.
One of their claims to fame was that they brought in unfinished frames (but not all though... Rossin, Pogliaghi and Cinelli came with Italian paint..) and checked for alignment and painted them with DuPont Imron. That was in answer to the prevailing opinion at that time that Italian bikes had crummy delicate finishes when done in Italia.
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